Rotary engine.



P, I'. HODGES.

ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 12, 1907.

Patented Deo. 8, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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P. F. HODGES.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLIGATION FILED AUGA .12, 1907.

Patented Deo. 8, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W/T/VESSES:

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5y T f ad) H1? Amm/vm ROTARY ENGINE.

Specification or" Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 8, 1908.

,To a!! t/rltofmfit may cmtmfm:

Be it, known that. i. ,Piiixr l5. Hermes, residing' at Old Olliee, in the count' ot tlooehm land and State ol' Virginia, have invented a new and improved ifonstruetion oi' Vliotar'iY Ing'ine, ot' which the followingr is a speciiimttion.

This in'i'intion relates to rotarjf engines and has for its purpos. le provide 'an iniproved means el' utilizing; the expansive force et steam in rotary engines, nl it. consists in parallel steant passagewaafs lie/tween the inlet and exhaust ports and valve niet-.hanisin operating to admit and out otil the steam to said 'passtle ways alternately", so that the initial pressure l'roni the hoiler will it )plied lo one ol' said passages while the expansive torre ol" slr-ain operating in the other passage way.

ln its inore subordinate l'eaturs iniY invvention consists in certain details el: eonstruetion and peculiar coinhination oil parts, all et `which will he lterehiaiter hilly de scribed. specilicall) pointed out in the appended claims and illustratedin the accontpanjvine' drawings, in which* v Figure l. is a perspective View el in iinproved eonstruetimi oi' rotar)P engine. Fig. 2, is a vertical, longitudinal section thereof. Fig. 3, is a horizontal section ot the easing, therotary piston or runner heilig omitted. Fig. fi, is a plan View ot' the rotar): piston or runners. lig. 5, is a perspective 'View ol' the rotary valve.

Vln the practical arrangement of in)F invention, the saine is arranged as shown in Figs. l to Li inclusive, and comprises a circular easingor l, which rises Verl icalli' l'roin the hase or foundation it) integral nith the easing; and suitably `llanged whereinr it can he conveniently and solidi)Y secured to a lloor or other support.

Within the casing is rotatahlli mounted the piston 2, which is keyed to the shaft il that journals in hub bearings 5"-5 on the cap plates 5 that l'orin the end closures ior the easing l, to which the)F are held, steam tight, by the cross bolts 6fm-6, as cl early shown in the drawings.V

The cylinder easing 1 has centrally disposed exhausts that are transversely disposed and discharge into a central exhausting port ;zf, and at one side the said casing has a pair of transverse inlets "HW-70u that diseharge into the 'easing and which eoninnmieate with a single valve chamber 7 in which is rotalalili' mounted the valve S and willi which the leed pipe lrotn the. hoilor connects rlhe Vaivc H, the detailed construelion oi' Vwhich is shown vin Fig. 5, is `tornied with a central annular slcain space tu and al each end with a nuinher ol equi-distantli' spaced channels til that. extend in the longitudinal axis ol' the valve and an equal nurnher oll eut olls said cut oti's and the channels in thc opposite ends ol' the Valves hein!y alternately arranjged whereby to provide lor a propel' cooperation oll the valve with the sleain passages in they casita;A and particularly 'lor adinittinuj the steam intermittently and aller na'pely throinfh the leed ports or inlets f.UVM-UVL as hest shown in lli 'iilie rotary piston 2 has its peripheral luces provided 'ilh two sets ol parallell \Y disposed, hut alternately arranged radial ahuilaneuts 2, nine. heine' shown in the drawings,lhat are joined hy a series of peripheral passage ways or pockets 2" that `e'radualliY hut unil'orinly increase in depth in. the 'loi-ward direction, th t is, in the directhe piston, 'lier reasons tion ol' rotation ol presently explained.

The two se l's el passage ways or pockets in the inanrrl'acture olthe piston, are cored ont and the said tiro sets forni, as it were, a continuous row o'l steani passages that are interrupted at pretleterniined intervals l the ahutnicnls 2"* and the said pockets or passaee ways, as will he hest seen li'oin Fig. 'i, do not extend entireh` across the piston i'aces hut are stopped short el the ends and ot' each other whereby to provide inelosure portions 2 and the central closure portion l'or the pockets or ways to hold the steani lroni passing' against the end caps 3M-5, the said two sels oll pockets heingoi" a width equal that ol' thc length oi" the stenin inlets in the hottoni el' the easing.

'l`heireular easing .has a series of annularly disposed radialrahutinents 3 that extend crossiif'ise the distance equal the width olthe two sets of pockets or passage ways 011 thc piston. and the said ahutnients 3 gradually dt'irrease in depth i'roni the. ini'eed end to the exhaustingr end oi' the casing, and they are joined ily a series ol" longitudinaily extending; pockets 3l) that graduallyY decrease in depth `troni the ini'eed to the exhaust side, as elearlygihown in Fig. 2, from which it will also he no'tieed that the ends of the pockets in the easing are closed by the solid portions 3H -of the casing, .so as -to ho'ld the steam from passing endwise 'out of the said pockets Bil-3G.

By arranging the pockets or steam passages on the piston and on the casing in the expansive force to exert a maximum pressure against the abutments on the down-goingl side of the piston.

t will be noticed that by the peculiar con-A struction and relative arrangement of the pockets or steam passages on the piston andy the opposing casing wall, that at intervals the steam after theinfeedlis out off ispocketed, the-.times of which isregulated by the number of pockets or abutments formed on the steam engaging faces of the casing and the piston and by reason thereof the expansive force is repeatedly utilized on the piston as the live steam impulses are intermittently admitted into the restricted space between the piston and casing, the live steam impulses being regulated by the number of ycut offs and feed channels formed in the rotary controlling valve. Again, the valve mechanism is of such character that it provides for practically continuous live steam impulses against the piston, by reason of first charging against the abutments at one side ofthe said piston and then against the abutments at the other side thereof, as well as the continuous use of the expansive force, since the' correlation of the pocketsA in the piston, the steam inlet, the pockets in the casing 'are so combined that at predetermined times the live steam impulses is either at one side of the rotary pistony or at the other side, while the expansion of the prior charge is exerting itself on the down-going side of the piston, such o eration not alone rendering the engine one o high efficiency and speed, bu also overcoming the sudden jerks and jars u ually I found in rotary engines. -Furthermore, by

reason of the gradually increasing depths pf the ockets in the piston peripheries and the gra ually decreasing dept s of the pockets in Icasing therefor.' having c eoaeae the chambers, the expanding force of the steam is always directed against the piston abutments forwardly and tangentially with respect to the piston axis, thus insuring a maximum energy from a minimum expense of steam power?. 5'

While I have shown the piston with nine radial abutments and pockets, I desire it understood that the said number, as also the number of pockets and abutments on the iston chamber may be increased or diminished and the valve may have a greater or less number of properly spaced cutoffs and steam channels without de arting from my invention or the scope o theappended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is l Y l. ln a rotary engine, the piston and casing therefor, comprising two series of annular abutments and pockets in the casing, two series of peripheral pockets and abutments encircling the piston, in coperation with the annular abutments and pockets, so as to form parallel steam passageways from the inlets to the exhausts, and a valve operating to admit and cut off the steam to and from the .said passage'ways alternately, so as to apply live steam impulsevdirect from the boiler to one of the passageways as the ex ansive force of the cut 0H' steam is applie in the other assageway.

2. n a rotary engine, separate steam passages parallelly and alternately arranged between theA inlets and,y exhausts the said passages consisting of a number of gradually expanding steam pockets and abutments, a

pockets and abutments for coperating with-the said steam passages and a valve mechanism operating to admit and cut off the steam td `the said passages alternately so as to apply live stean impulse direct from the boiler to one of the passa e ways as the expansive force of the cut o steam is applied 1n the other passage` waysand a valve operating to admit and cut 0H the'steam to aid passages, 'alternately whereby to apply live steam impulse direct from the boiler to one of the passageways as the expansive force of the c'ut off steam is on the other passageways.

LINY F. HODGES. Witnesses:

Gpo, B. Prrrs, A' JOHN T. SCHROTT. 

